Prehistoric-Looking Horses Roaming China’s Plains Again

Przewalski’s horses, once classed as extinct in the wild, have reemerged in northwestern China. GETTY IMAGES

In the harsh desert steppe of far northwestern China five prehistoric-looking Przewalski’s horses, once classed as extinct in the wild, emerge from the endless plains.

The horses — named after a Russian officer and explorer who spotted them around 1880 — bear a striking resemblance to those depicted in European cave paintings, with short necks, spiky manes and a yellow hue.

They graze calmly on a few strands of straw as the wind whips across the vast, open landscape.

“These ones here, they can be approached. The others will run away as soon as you get within 300 yards of them,” says Sun Zhicheng, an official at the 1.6-million-acre West Lake national nature reserve.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Przewalski’s horses once roamed as far as Western Europe.

But as the centuries passed, climatic change reduced their habitat and the remainder were so widely hunted, mainly for food, that they were classified as extinct in the wild in 1960 — although a living specimen was later found in Mongolia.

But a few survived in European zoos, and now efforts are under way to reintroduce them to the wild.

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AUTHOR:
Jerry Finch

2 Comments

Judy Wendt

They are gorgeous.

June 18, 2013

sherriey

what an inspiring story! this is wonderful.
they are very beautiful and its really nice to see another country trying to reestablish what became extinct thru no fault of its own.
i hope we hear more about these magnificent animals.

June 18, 2013

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